Luke did end up coming back to my place. His apartment was fine, but the lobby and basement of his building were still flooded.

"They have to completely rebuild the electrical room before they can turn the power back on," he told us.

"Holy crap," Nina said. "How long will that take?"

"Weeks? Months?"

"Oh my god, Luke, I'm so sorry." I rubbed his shoulder.

"I mean, I shouldn't even complain," Luke said. "It was awful there. Some people lost everything."

"Well, you're welcome to crash at the maxi pad for as long as you need to."

Luke snapped his fingers. "That's from Reality Bites."

"What is with you and the 90s movie quotes?" Nina asked.

"You guys, geez, watching 90s movies is all there has been to do in the last week!"

Luke pulled a bottle of vodka out of his bag and put it in my freezer. "For your hospitality," he said. Then, "And I only need to stay here one more night, Jos. My cousin's roommate is actually moving out tomorrow and he said I can have his room until he finds a replacement."

Not going to lie, the idea of losing my live-in EWB (ex-with-benefits) was a little upsetting.

"Well, Josie and I made a friend in our running group today and he invited us to this party tonight," Nina said.

"Oh," Luke said. I couldn't get a read on what that "Oh" meant.

"You're invited too," I added.

"You sure?"

"Of course!" I insisted. "He told us to bring anyone. The more the merrier."

An hour later, I was standing alone in the kitchen of Justin's small West Village apartment. Nina was engaged in conversation with another guy from our running group, and Luke was off in the corner, talking to a co-worker he'd run into when we first arrived. I was just doing my darndest to ignore the big bowls of delicious non-perishables all around me. Justin and his roommates had clearly spent some time in the grocery store pre-hurricane.

"You made it!" Justin was suddenly standing in front of me, a bottle of beer in his hand. In "normal" clothes, he looked a little meatier than he had earlier that morning.

"Where's your drink?" he asked, gesturing to my empty hand.

"Oh, I'm trying to take it easy with the booze," I said. "I ate and drank so much this week. Just trying to undo the damage."

"You look perfect to me," he said, taking a swig of his drink. I felt my face flush and my stomach dip.

"Thanks," I smiled.

"Here, let me make you a 'mocktail,'" Justin opened the fridge and pulled out club soda, grapefruit juice, and a lime. "I drank this all the time when I was sick."

When we got home, we put Nina in my bed and then had a PG-13 makeout session on my couch. I was too tired to do anything more, and in all honesty, Luke didn't even seem as into it as he had been over the last few days. It was like our lust had only been fueled by the drama of Sandy. Plus, I couldn't stop thinking about Justin…I have never met anyone who's been through what he's been through before. He's obviously a really strong person to beat cancer, and to have such a good attitude about it now. There is something really intriguing about that level of tenacity.

Have you ever dated someone who's had a serious health issue before? How did it affect the relationship?